Omen AI Acquires Aquatic Labs in $16M Deal to Cut Water Use in AI Data Centers

Omen AI, a startup building real-time sensors for the cooling systems that keep AI data center chips running, is acquiring competitor Aquatic Labs in a $16 million cash-and-stock deal, following its $31 million Series A in June.

U.S. data centers use 17 to 19 billion gallons of water each year for cooling, a figure The Water Foundation expects to triple within five years as AI infrastructure scales. Testing cooling fluids currently means sending samples to a laboratory in a multi-day process.

Omen, founded in 2024 by Zach Laberge, builds sensors that detect elements in the water, while Aquatic Labs’ technology measures alkalinity. Aquatic Labs CEO Allan Adams, a physicist and former MIT professor and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute researcher, told TechCrunch that combining both in one sensor gives a much richer picture of the fluid. Adams joins as chief science officer, and the integrated sensor is expected on the market early next year.

Laberge said that Omen’s sensors will monitor chips drawing 250 to 300 MW by year end, with a goal of 1 GW by the end of 2027. Better monitoring lets operators reuse fluid longer and avoid costly shutdowns.

Laberge added that recent investor skepticism over AI spending does not affect Omen, since its customers’ projects were financed a year ago, and said the market would remain the biggest in human history even if halved.